On Saturday, Sept. 6, at 6 a.m., Officers Andy Soto and Nick Funk were sent to investigate a motor-vehicle crash at Quincy Avenue and Devon Street, where Antonio R. Rodriguez, 19, of North Arlington, had allegedly crashed into a parked vehicle. Both vehicles were seriously damaged and Rodriguez’s own vehicle sustained multiple airbag deployments. Luckily, no pedestrians, cyclists or motorists were on the road at this time.
According to Kearny Police Department Public-Information Officer Mike Gontarczuk:
Officer Soto says Rodriguez’s breath reeked of alcohol and his speech was slow and slurred, his eyes were watery and bloodshot and he was swaying when standing. Rodriguez did not provide his driver’s license and when asked to spell his last name, Rodriguez, he misspelled it.
Standardized field-sobriety tests were administered. During each test, the instructions had to be repeated to Rodriguez multiple times, as he had trouble following along or comprehending what was being explained. He performed poorly and it was determined he would be arrested and charged with drunken driving.
However, Gontarczuk says Rodriguez refused to comply, physically resisted arrest and the officers had to resort to employing force. Rodriguez fought with the officers for a period of time and OC spray was utilized. Shortly after, he was secured in handcuffs. Throughout this ordeal, he called the officers words such as “f****t” and the “N” word.
Then, when officers attempted to place Rodriguez into a police vehicle, he resisted again, kicked officers and verbally challenged them to control his legs, which resulted in a second struggle that resulted in cuts on Rodriguez’s knees and blood exposure to the officers. He was secured in the vehicle and transported to KPD HQ.
Inside the vehicle Rodriguez crashed while driving, police says the found an open 750mL bottle of Buchanan’s Scotch Whisky.
Once at KPD HQ, officers attempted to obtain breath samples for the purposes of an Alco Test, as required by law, but Rodriguez launched a tirade of expletives and was yelling and screaming at the officers. Officers transported him to hospital. After medical attention was administered, they returned to KPD HQ and attempted to process him, including obtaining his fingerprints, which he continually refused.
The officers then attempted to secure Rodriguez in a holding cell, but he again resisted, instead spitting on a police supervisor and attempting to escape out of the handcuffs on him. Because of all this, a spit mask was placed on Rodriguez and he was eventually secured in a holding cell.
Rodriguez’s charges include three counts of aggravated assault on law enforcement, obstructing the administration of law, resisting arrest, refusal to submit to fingerprinting, drunken driving, drunken driving while younger than 21, possessing an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, refusal to submit to chemical-breath testing, careless driving and reckless driving.
Once Rodriguez sobered up, he finally shut up and was compliant.
He was transported to the Hudson County Jail, South Kearny.
And, as you probably already guessed, despite all of these antics, just three days later, on Tuesday, Sept. 9, Rodriguez was released from custody by a Hudson County Superior Court judge, according to jail records.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.